Working in Cambodia

Cambodia:  MEDCAP 1

I had the opportunity to participate in 2 days of MEDCAP 1 in Cambodia on July 30 and August 2.  The first difference from Vietnam I noticed was the weather.  It was cloudy and much cooler than in Vietnam with a refreshing, gentle breeze.  However the humidity was so heavy I always felt there was a blanket of moisture covering my skin.  By the end of MEDCAP all the boxes and papers felt a bit water logged.  There was a torrential downpour a few times during the first day.  Thankfully I was dry in the pharmacy, but some of the patient’s didn’t fair so well underneath a pavilion that tried to blow away in the wind.

MEDCAP 1 was located in the city of Sihanoukville at a school named Hun Sen Cheung Kor.  The school consisted of two buildings in a L-shape with a courtyard in front.  Due to the rain almost the entire area was extremely muddy.  My shoes were atrocious by the end of the day.  I couldn’t understand how so many of the Cambodians wore flip-flops and their feet didn’t have much mud on them.

There were so many more children at the MEDCAP in Cambodia!  It’s nice to see their wide smiles and hear their laughter.  A few tried hanging out near the windows on the back of the pharmacy.  However, the pharmacist did not like that idea and continually reminded them to move along.

During the afternoon of the last day of MEDCAP a mother frantically walked into the pharmacy with her child.  We could not understand what she was saying, but it was clear she wanted help for her child.  The child was not moving and had a blank stare on her face.  With the help of our translators, she was ushered down to the pediatrics area.  Not much time passed until a provider appeared in the pharmacy asking for some Tylenol to give ASAP for a child that had a febrile seizure.  It was the same patient and I was happy to know she was promptly received care.

A Lesson in Painting

On August 1^st I volunteered to assist with an ENGCAP in Kampot, Cambodia.  My duty was to paint the shutters and windows of a health clinic undergoing renovations.  A nurse practitioner from the Latter Day Saints and I double teamed the windows for about 5 hours and only fully completed one (painting shutters with a paint brush is more time consuming than I thought).  We were given information on how to properly paint a window (brush out the runs, fully cover the existing color, etc).  The project needs to be finished on the 9^th of August and the hope was to complete each window with only one coat of paint.  Thankfully I’ve heard the finer points on painting before and was confident in my ability with a paintbrush.  However, there is a very good reason paint shouldn’t be used in wet, humid environments.  As the rain ferociously bombarded the ground, we noticed that our carefully painted shutters had runs in the paint.  It did not matter how many times it was brushed out.  At any rate, it looks great from a distance.  I came away mostly unscathed from the red paint.  Only a bit of paint made it’s way onto my nails and glasses!  Also in that area, the military is finishing up a maternity ward it built for the clinic and is updating the community center.  I wish them luck finishing their project.  I can’t imagine working 10-14 hours outside everyday.

On a side note, the 2-hour drive there was pretty frightening.  The road was paved, but it some areas the potholes went from one side of the road to the other.  Gravel had been placed to fill the holes, but it mostly just got pushed to the side.  Our van driver did his best to avoid the potholes by veering from side to side of the road.  It was a very bumpy ride and I can only imagine what it would have been like had none of the road been paved!  The drive did offer magnificent views of the Cambodian jungle and a snapshot of life in rural Cambodia.  I saw several people working in rice patties, families eating meals together, children playing, and water buffalo trying to cross the road.